Watch: India’s Russian oil imports hit 48% as U.S. readies 100% tariffs
Russia's share of India's crude oil imports touched an all-time high of 48% in June 2026, with India importing 8.7 million metric tonnes of Russian crude that month
India's overall crude oil imports fell sharply in June even as the Russian share rose, reflecting a decline in purchases from other suppliers
The UAE recorded its own historic high share of 17.5% of India's crude imports in the same period, meaning Russia and the UAE together accounted for close to two-thirds of India's total crude imports
This comes as the United States moves closer to imposing tariffs of up to 100% on countries that continue importing Russian oil and gas
The Sanctioning Russia Act and Secondary Tariffs on Oil Importers
The US legislation referenced uses secondary sanctions — a mechanism where tariffs or penalties are imposed not on the sanctioned country itself, but on third countries that continue trading with it — as the tool to pressure large buyers of Russian energy such as India and China.
Key Details
- The bill, formally the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia Act of 2026, passed the US Senate by an 86-11 vote on August 7, 2026, and requires House passage and presidential signature to take effect
- It authorises tariffs of up to 100% on goods from the top five importers of Russian oil (reported to include China, India, Slovakia, Hungary, and Azerbaijan) and separately targets the top importers of Russian natural gas
- The bill also provides for tariffs of up to 500% on Russian goods imported directly into the US, and sanctions on entities linked to Russia's "shadow fleet" of tankers used to evade the existing price cap
- It builds on, but is distinct from, earlier sector-specific sanctions frameworks such as CAATSA (2017), which targeted transactions with Russia's defence and intelligence sectors rather than energy trade broadly
India's record 48% Russian crude share places it among the countries the bill's 100% tariff provision is explicitly designed to target if the legislation is enacted, creating a direct link between India's energy-sourcing pattern and a live US trade-policy risk.
G7 Price Cap Mechanism on Russian Seaborne Oil
The price cap is the principal Western mechanism (short of an outright import ban) used to limit Russia's oil revenue while keeping Russian crude flowing to global markets, and it directly shapes how India's oil-marketing companies can lawfully purchase discounted Russian crude.
Key Details
- The G7, European Union, and Australia imposed a price cap of USD 60 per barrel on seaborne Russian crude oil from December 2022, restricting Western (mainly European) shipping, insurance, and reinsurance services to cargoes sold at or below the cap
- India is not a party to the price-cap coalition and has continued purchasing Russian crude through non-Western shipping and insurance arrangements, including via the shadow fleet targeted by the new US bill
- Indian public-sector oil marketing companies — Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum, and Hindustan Petroleum — are the principal buyers executing these Russian crude purchases
- Discounted Russian crude (typically priced several dollars per barrel below Brent) has been a major driver of India's shift toward Russian supply since 2022
The scale of India's Russian imports, now a record 48% share, reflects continued reliance on this price-cap-adjacent trade architecture, which the new US tariff bill seeks to disrupt through a different, tariff-based lever rather than the shipping-services route used by the price cap.
India's Crude Import Diversification Since 2022
India's crude sourcing has undergone a structural shift since the Russia-Ukraine conflict began, moving away from traditional West Asian suppliers toward Russia, a shift now visible in the record UAE and Russia shares recorded in June 2026.
Key Details
- Before the conflict (2021), Russia supplied only about 2% of India's crude imports, with Iraq (around 24%) and Saudi Arabia (around 16%) as the top suppliers
- India's total crude imports fell sharply in June 2026 even as the Russian and UAE shares rose, indicating that the increase in these two suppliers' shares partly reflects reduced purchases from West Asian and other sources rather than higher absolute Russian/UAE volumes alone
- The UAE's own record 17.5% share reflects its growing role as both a direct crude supplier and a re-export/blending hub in the changing India-West Asia energy trade
- India's official position has consistently characterised these import decisions as a matter of energy security and consumer price stability rather than geopolitical alignment
The combined Russia-UAE share of nearly two-thirds of India's crude basket illustrates how far India's import diversification has progressed since 2021, and underlines why the proposed US tariffs would strike at a now-entrenched, not marginal, part of India's energy supply chain.
- Russia's share of India's crude imports (June 2026): all-time high of 48%
- Volume of Russian crude imported by India (June 2026): 8.7 million metric tonnes
- UAE's share of India's crude imports (June 2026): historic high of 17.5%
- Combined Russia + UAE share of India's crude imports: close to two-thirds
- Proposed US tariff on top Russian oil/gas importers: up to 100% (Sanctioning Russia Act, passed US Senate 86-11 on August 7, 2026)
- G7/EU/Australia price cap on Russian seaborne crude: USD 60 per barrel, effective December 2022
- Pre-war (2021) Russian share of India's crude imports: approximately 2%